\n Susie Freeman, from Wallasey, is showcasing her work in a free solo exhibition titled The Joy of Age at the Birkenhead Park Visitor Centre from this Friday to Monday (July 10 to 13).\n<\/p>\n
\n The exhibition features colourful abstract pieces celebrating life after 60 and aims to challenge negative stereotypes about ageing.\n<\/p>\n
\n Susie Freeman, from Wallasey, is showcasing her work in a free solo exhibition titled The Joy of Age at the Birkenhead Park Visitor Centre from this Friday to Monday (July 10 to 13, 2026) (Image: Craig Manning \/ Newsquest)\n<\/p>\n
\n Ms Freeman, a retired computer tutor who previously taught textiles, told the Globe: “There is a persistent cultural narrative that aging is synonymous with slowing down or fading into the background.\n<\/p>\n
\n “With The Joy of Age,\u00a0I wanted to turn that idea on its head. These pieces are about energy, wisdom and the distinct beauty of life\u2019s later chapters.”\n<\/p>\n
\n Her journey into art began after her retirement and most of the work on display was created in the short months since completing a foundation course in fine art.\n<\/p>\n
\n For her final project, Ms Freeman – who has a studio at Make CIC’s creative space in Birkenhead town centre – decided to focus on a theme close to her heart\u2014her own experience of getting older.\n<\/p>\n
\n She said: “Now I\u2019m 65 and there\u2019s so much in the press about how awful it is getting older and all the things that can go wrong.\n<\/p>\n
\n “I just thought ‘let’s flip it’. Let\u2019s do something joyful and happy.”\n<\/p>\n
\n Susie Freeman, from Wallasey, is showcasing her work in a free solo exhibition titled The Joy of Age at the Birkenhead Park Visitor Centre from this Friday to Monday (July 10 to 13, 2026) (Image: Craig Manning \/ Newsquest)\n<\/p>\n
\n Susie describes life after retirement as a “renaissance” and wants others to see what she calls the “liberation” that comes with this stage of life.\n<\/p>\n
\n She hopes her work will reach a broad audience, adding: “You can be all doom and gloom, but you can also flip it to be joyous about it.\n<\/p>\n
\n “People can come who know nothing about art, who don’t actually understand abstract art at all, but can still come along and actually feel good about it.”\n<\/p>\n
\n While she is not yet selling the larger pieces, Susie believes they could, one day, find a home in public spaces.\n<\/p>\n
\n She said: “I think they would look fantastic in a hotel or within a cafe situation, because they’re just perfect for that. They’re a bit big for a domestic setting.”\n<\/p>\n
\n The exhibition features five large pieces alongside several smaller works exploring colour and form as metaphors for visibility, choice and meaning in later life.\n<\/p>\n
\n One of her pieces includes 65 rings representing occasions that have shaped her life, some good and some bad.\n<\/p>\n
\n She reflected: “the point of the picture is, and where I am now, because all those things have happened, and the culmination of all those things.\n<\/p>\n
\n “If you over-explain, it deadens it.\n<\/p>\n
\n “I want visitors to engage with it and see what it means to them personally.”\n<\/p>\n
\n The exhibition is hosted at Birkenhead Park Visitor Centre, a fitting venue given Freeman\u2019s photographic work in the same space during the pandemic.\n<\/p>\n
\n She captured a photographic series documenting the life cycle of swans during lockdown.\n<\/p>\n
\n She said: “I’m going back to that space with a completely different hat on, but still a creative hat on, but a lot more free expressive . . .”\n<\/p>\n
\n Freeman believes that if The Joy of Age resonates with visitors it could become a touring exhibition.\n<\/p>\n
\n She is in contact with Age UK Wirral and other organisations in hopes of reaching wider audiences in other UK cities.\n<\/p>\n
\n The exhibition is open from 9am to 4.30pm each day and is free to attend.\n<\/p>\n
\n Freeman, who has two sons and a grandson, said: “They just sort of think it’s another of these madcap schemes of mum’s.\n<\/p>\n
\n “But I’ve always liked to do different things and have never been afraid to experiment artistically. It’s sort of pushed myself into, trying to see, go down a path and see how well that fits suits me, which I do with photography very well.\n<\/p>\n
\n “I’m very much enjoying the art phase at the moment.\n<\/p>\n
\n “Life doesn’t have to stop when you’re 60.\n<\/p>\n
\n “Life can actually, it can be even more fulfilling as you get older.”\n<\/p>\n
\n Residents of all ages are invited to experience the exhibition and reflect on the vibrant potential of later life.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Susie Freeman, from Wallasey, is showcasing her work in a free solo exhibition titled The Joy of Age…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":680306,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[6225,6485,6486,1120,96,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-680305","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/680305","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=680305"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/680305\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/680306"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=680305"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=680305"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=680305"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}